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Editorial advisory board: Redevelopment on U.S. 36

Posted:
02/22/2014 01:00:00 AM MST

Tensions are high over the discussions to redevelop U.S. 36, the main corridor between Denver and Boulder. The Colorado Department of Transportation says the deal could occur as early as next week. The deal is a public-private partnership involving a multinational firm based in Australia. What do you think?

"Road rage" has taken on new meaning in Boulder. After the focus on who is responsible for the funding of sub-division road maintenance, we are now faced with the impending public-private partnership between CDOT and Plenary, a private consortium, for construction and maintenance of U.S. 36. Conflict is high about corporate involvement as an opposing group is filing a lawsuit to block the deal. What is it about roads and funding that incite such anger?

Our roads have been core to our global infrastructure for centuries dating back to 4000 BC. Unfettered access, trusting we can get from here to there, provides us with a sense of freedom we don't want anyone tangling with. Involving big business frightens people fearing shareholder interests will over-ride what is best for the economic and environmental greater good. The "freedom vigil" held at the CDOT became contentious and personified just how important the freedom of the open road is to us. None of us want to be passengers in the decision making process of how best to utilize resources to create sustainable transportation for the next 50 years.

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Recently CDOT has provided more transparency, but we as citizens with the support of our legislators, need to feel more in the driver's seat as we push for a careful review process of all our funding options.

Perhaps our community "road rage" will then be tempered so we aren't all left at a standstill in our attempt for the highest quality transportation system.

When the Turnpike was built in 1952, Boulder County held 48,000 people, 1.3 million in the whole state. The 25-cent toll was about two bucks in today's dollars, lifted in 1967, the Turnpike paid for. There was only one set of exit ramps between Boulder and Denver, in Broomfield, until in 1980 booming Louisville got the first new interchange. Its population had tripled to 6,000!

The carrying capacity of U.S. 36 west of Sheridan has been much the same for 60 years. Boulder County has grown six-fold, and Colorado is now home to more than 5.3 million people.

"We have met the enemy and he is us."

Expanding U.S. 36 has been inevitable, but a lot of people near Boulder are upset about the way decisions have been made. A big stretch of the highway already looks like Mister Peabody's coal train carrying away Muhlenberg County, but just now we've learned of the back office deals, and probably not all of them.

Some anger is justified. Up here, northwest, we trusted that we'd get fair return on our FasTracks tax dollars. Silly us.

But some resentment is misplaced: we are a huge pain with whom to negotiate. Give Boulderites a powerful seat at any table and we'll paralyze the process with our endless Green demands.

There was a middle ground somewhere, but we missed it, and the result will be an amazing overload of vehicles hitting Foothills Parkway and 28th Street.

If you thought the Arapahoe Avenue project was worth the time, disruption and millions of dollars to add no additional traffic lanes then you'll absolutely love the new U.S. 36. When you let virulently anti-automobile activists design a "multi-modal complete street" highway this is what you get: HOV3, a 12-foot wide bicycle/pedestrian path, and no additional traffic lanes. That mass transit is and will remain an impracticality for the majority of people who have to work in the real world seems lost on these bureaucrats.

"Clearly, the county has not done a good job of communicating its policies over time."

- George Gerstle

". . . the arrangement with Plenary is sound and well structured even if the effort to explain it to the public wasn't."

Commuting into Boulder weekday mornings on U.S. 36 is a nightmare. In 2004 Denver metro voters overwhelmingly approved a tax for the creation of FastTracks to address congestion throughout the region.

Boulder was promised both commuter rail and 18 miles of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Highway 36. It turns out the train is too expensive. Bus Rapid Transit is all we are getting.

This system includes one new lane in each direction for buses, carpoolers, and anybody willing to pay a toll. It doesn't include additional regular lanes for those who can't afford the toll. Nor does it include new BRT lanes once you arrive at Table Mesa. The bus ride from downtown Denver to Table Mesa will be considerably faster. For most people, those commuting from or to other places in the area, the benefits of busing over driving will be less compelling.

BRT was always part of FastTracks. Now we learn there isn't enough tax money left to pay for it. Result: we are forced to enter into a 50-year agreement for a toll road that our taxes were meant to cover.

We are told this is the best we can get. That's disappointing. We are building a system that will provide only minor relief for our current congestion problems, while obligating ourselves for decades to a solution that doesn't envision the transportation infrastructure needs of tomorrow.

Animosity toward CDOT is running high in Boulder County. Residents feel betrayed by the FasTracks bait-and-switch, and need hand-holding to accept the Bus Rapid Transit fallback position. Now is a terrible time to be perceived as concealing U.S. 36 redevelopment details, or to be revealing plans with insufficient time for public scrutiny.

The public-private aspect is understandable given Tabor restrictions under which our public officials must operate. Statewide approval of new tax dollars for a project with regional benefits is virtually impossible. We've known what the general approach would be, but need good answers to troubling questions raised in recent weeks.

The top three areas where citizens deserve clarity, and soon, are the 50-year length of the contract, cost risks to taxpayers, and why the legislature wasn't kept better informed during the negotiating process. We need better data to support assurances that this is a good deal for Colorado.

Some of the other controversies, like links to ALEC and Goldman Sachs' involvement, may prove to be tempests in teapots, however in an election year we can be sure all ammunition will be used against elected officials involved in the deal. Voters will be challenged to separate noise from substance.

In general, I like the vision of how the improved corridor will operate (see the analysis at flatironbike.com for a useful summary of the project's benefits). I hope that CDOT can get out in front of controversies before the project is derailed.

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